Thought for Thursday
And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. 1 John 3:5
We had a rule at our house when I was growing up: If you made the mess, you cleaned it up. It was a good rule. It didn’t always work, because not everybody owned up to making the mess. But for those of us who had not been involved in creating the problem, we could walk away with a clear conscience. Well, somebody made a mess in our world, a terrible mess that has caused untold grief, suffering, death, destruction, injustices and more. You and I might not have started the mess, but we certainly contributed our share to making it worse. The mess was caused by sin and is perpetuated by more sin, and the only way to resolve it is to get rid of the sin. That’s not something that Adam could do, nor any of the Old Testament patriarchs or prophets. The best that the tabernacle and temple sacrifices could do was to temporarily put a patch on the great problem, a patch that needed no end of repetitions. That is why our text offers such great news, the news that Jesus Christ was manifested to take away our sins.
God wasted no time in getting the word out about the One Who would be the Sin-bearer. Adam and Woman (her name was not yet Eve) were not yet out of Eden when God promised them that the seed of Woman would bruise the serpent’s head. Amid the record of man’s failure in the Old Testament is the consistent message in prophecy and picture that the Sin-bearer would come. Every Jewish woman longed that His coming might be through her. Joseph, Mary, and the Bethlehem shepherds heard an angelic proclamation that the Babe in the manger had come to be the Saviour. As He began His ministry, John Baptist announced Him as the Lamb Who God would provide to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29,36). And at Calvary, He did just that, fulfilling His mission, completing His Father’s purpose.
You nor I nor anyone we know or have ever heard of could accomplish what the Lord Jesus did on the cross. ‘None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him’ (Psalm 49:7). Our sinful hands and fickle hearts would not and could not do anything to take away sins. No counting of beads or saying of prayers or afflicting the flesh could remove one sin of our own, let alone the sins of others. But Jesus Christ had no sin, as our text makes plain. Having no sin, having nothing about Him to which sin could appeal, having perfectly thwarted the worst of the devil’s temptations, He stands as an acceptable Sacrifice. His holy soul could be exposed to divine wrath against sin, and bear that punishment, because in Him is no sin.
On a day when men would seek ways to appease the anger of a holy God, we give thanks that the holy Son of God took that anger upon Himself, and divine justice is satisfied that our sins are taken away.